Treatment of wool to increase its harshness and decrease its luster



Patented Dec. 19, 1 950 TREATMENT OF WOOL TO INCREASE ITS. HARSHNESS AND DECREASE itrs LUSTER Stuart E. Swanson, Suflield, 00:111., assignor to Bigelnwesanford Carpet (30., Inc, Thompsonvillc, 001m at corporation of Massachusetts No Drawing.

Application January 13, 1948,

Serial No. 2,1 8

3 Claims The present invention relates to th treatment of wool to improve its physical properties and more particularly to a treatment which will enhance the harshness of the wool while at the same tim decreasing its lustre. In the manufacture of pile fabric fioor covering by the established operations peculiar to this field, including the carding, spinning, dyeing, etc. of the fiber, it is necessary that the wool have a certain harshness of texture. In addition, the wool in the pile tufts of the completed product, should in many cases have a low degree of lustre. B. A.-type wool is so deficient in harshness that it has not been possible to process it into carpets or rugs by the established procedure and with the equipment presently installed in carpet manufacturing plants, which procedur and equipment operate successfully with the conventional, harsher, carpet wools. Because of the soft,

slip ery, silk-like nature of the B. A.-ty pe wool fihers, great care and constant attention must be exercised throughout the processing of the wool and the Yarn and the weaving thereof. The resulting product is in a sense a handmade article and commercial production by the established practice is not feasible. 9 It is an object of the present inventon to provide a process for harshening and delustering B. A.-type wools therebyto extend their use in the manufacture of pile fabric floor coverings.

By the present invention I provide a process for so modifying these B. A.-,type wools that the harshness of the fiber is increased to such an extent that the modified woo'l may be manufactured into pile fabric floor covering On a commercial scale by the conventional procedure and apps ratus with only normal attention during-the processing. It is possible to manufacture on a commercial basis pile fabric floor coverings consisting entirely of B. A.-type wools modified-by my process. The treatment of my invention also decreases the lustre of the wool.

I have discovered that by treating these soft, silk-like, lustrous, slippery B. A.-type wools with a solution of barium oxide or barium hydroxide, preferably in a bath containing the barium compound, and then treating the wool with sulfuric acid, the fibers of these wools are rendered harsher so that they may be handled by the methods conventional in the carpet manufacturing industry, in which methods the harsher wools from other parts of the world are used. Also, at the same time, the lustre of said fibers, which is undesirable in conventional domestic rugs and carpets, is decreased.

- y circulatin tap w ter n. the kettle ontai the wool and drainin that water off. This rinse. remov s exc ss barium compound. The ta tle; s ill containing the wool, is a ain fi led w th is}? Water and sulfuric acid added in an amount suff ient only to make the bath slightly acid;

This makes the barium compound in th wool insoluble and thus fixes it therein. Thereafter, the wool is removed from the kettle and dried The resulting modified 0 1 can be processed into pile fabric floor cover ng by the conven ional rocedures em loyed with the u ual arpet woo with no more than normal care and attention,

. The barium oxide of the f regoing example may be re laced partly or entirely by barium hydrox e The pH or the barium solution, Iberia-found, should be in the range 71.0 to 12.0. I p fer that the bath be k pt at thebo l 43.11%? ing the treatm nt with the barium c mpound, in the foregoing example, and that h i i kep in the barium solution at or near the boil for per od of 1 to 20 minute ii wevcr, sa isfactory modification of the wool may be 0b.. taincd at lower temperatures by allowin the Wool to remain tanding in the bath for some: spondingly longer periods of time. In this case, the barium oxide or barium hy oxide may-b incorporated in the bath in the same proportion uscdwith the boilin bath,

.If the woolis to beroolorcd, it may be acid dyed after it has been modified by he treatment of this invention.

I have ou d that the p op rtion of barium compound present in the treating liquid may be varied over a substantial range depending upon the degree of modification to be imparted to the,

wool and upon the temperature and the duration of the treatment. Amounts of the barium compound or compounds ranging from about 2% to 10%, by weight of the wool, preferably about 5%, have been found advantageous.

Another mode of treatment is to treat the wool with a barium compound as a continuous operation in a moving stream of liquid. Thus the wool may be treated as it is subjected to the rinsing operation which normally follows the scouring operation in the preparation of wool fibers for use in pile fabric floor coverings. This procedure is particularly useful with wools which are not to be dyed but are to be manufactured into yarn of their natural color. -In many cases the rinsing following the scouring operation is carried out with water at a temperature at about 140160 F., although rinsing at any temperature between room temperature and the boiling point may be employed. The barium compound content of the rinse bath should approximate 1 to 8%, preferably about 1%, of the volume of the bath. The wool is passed through the rinsing tank in a continuous operation and .the barium compound or compounds therefore must be can:

tinually supplied to the tank to maintain the i desired concentration therein. For this purpose any appropriate, constant-rate feeding means stantially in the same way as the conventional carpet wools. However, my treatment is also useful with these conventional carpet wools to decrease their lustre and to enhance their harshness to render them amenable to processing into pile fabric floor coverings by the established procedures and equipment. The improvement in these properties, however, is not as great in the case of the conventional carpet wools as it is with the B. A.-type wools. The treatment is also useful with mixtures of wools of diiferent types. -Wool modified by my process may be spun into yarn which may then be woven as the pile of pile fabric floor coverings,notwithstanding the fact that the original stock was largely or entirely a B. A.-type wool which inherently is incapable of being processed on the conventional carpet manufacturing apparatus. Suchpile has a coarse harsh texture and a lack of lustre far different from "the texture and lustre of untreated B. A.-type wools and comparable with the texture and lustre of the conventional carpet wools. Raw B. A.-type wool stock modified by my process may be mixed with conventional carpet wools in allproportions to give a Wool mixture suitable for use in forming the pile of pile fabric floor coverings. By the term B. A.-type Wool, as used herein, 1: mean wool having thecharacteristics of B. A. wool as regards its soft, slipper nature, its lustre-and itslack of harshness and fullness as contrasted with the conventional carpet wools. I use the term B. A. wool in its ordinary meaning'in the trade, i. e., wool from the Lincoln- 4 type sheep as grown in South America. The B. A.-type wools available today consist primarily of B. A. wool, and wool from the Lincoln-type sheep as grown in New Zealand.

Although the above specific examples of my process, given by way of illustration and not of limitation, relate to procedures in which the wool is immersed in a bath of the barium compound, it is not intended thereby to exclude other ways of applying the treating solution to the Wool, such as by sprinkling, spraying, etc.

I claim:

1. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the-property'of harshness requisite for conversion of the woolby standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering, and for decreasing its lustre, which consists essentially in wetting the wool with a solution having a pH between 7.0 and 12.0 and containing a barium compound selected from the class consisting of barium oxide and barium hydroxide, and thereafter treating the wool with sulfuric acid.

2. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the property of harshness, requisite for conversion of the wool by standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering, and for decreasing its lustre, which consists essentially in immersing the wool for 10 to 20 minutes in a boiling aqueous solution having a pH between 7.0 and 12.0 and containing 2% to 10% by Weight of the wool of barium oxide, and thereafter treating the wool with sulfuric acid.

3. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the property of harshness requisite for conversion of the wool by standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering, and for decreasing its lustre, which consists essentially in immersing the wool for 10 to 20 minutes in a boiling aqueous solution having a pH between 7.0 and 12.0 and containing 2% to 10% by weight of the wool of barium hydroxide, and thereafter treating the wool with sulfuric acid.

' STUART E. SWANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent: v UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 10, 1932 OTHER REFERENCES Gooch et al., Outlines of Inorganic Chemistry," Macmillan Co., New York, 1905, page 252. (Copy in Patent Office Scientific Library.) '1 

1. THE PROCESS FOR IMPARTING TO B. A.-TYPE WOOL THE PROPERTY OF HARSHNESS REQUISITE FOR CONVERSION OF THE WOOL BY STANDARD PROCEDURES INTO PILE FABRIC FLOOR COVERING, AND FOR DECREASING ITS LUSTRE, WHICH CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY IN WETTING THE WOOL WITH A SOLUTION HAVING A PH BETWEEN 7.0 AND 12.0 AND CONTAINING A BARIUM COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF BARIUM OXIDE AND BARIUM HYDROXIDE, AND THEREAFTER TREATING THE WOOL FOR SULFURIC ACID. 